Operating mechanism for mine-doors.



No. 788.898 PATENTED MAY 2, 1905. R. J. GOOD 6: G. E. HALL. OPERATING MEOHANISM FOR MINE DOORS.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 4, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVENTORS; fiabmxg gaod, 30o 6.3m, BY

A TORNEY ITF STES Patented May 2, 1905.

ROBERT J. GOOD AND GEORGE E. HALL, OF CANTON, OHIO.

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR MINE iDUORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,89d, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed February 1, 1905. $eria1 No. 244,079. i

To all whom it 771/(LZ/(3072/(J67'7'L:

Be it known that we, ROBERT J. GOOD and GEORGE E. HALL, citizens of the United States, residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Operating Mechanism for Mine-Doors, of which the following is aspecification.

The invention relates to means for operating mine-doors and the like adapted to be actuated by a passing car; and the objects of the improvements are, first, to provide such mechanism and hinges that the operating-bars and the doors will automatically return to their normal positions Without the use of special counterweights, and, second, to so connect the mechanism with the doors that the latter can be opened manually without operating the former. by the construction, mechanism, and arrangement illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a section of mine-track, showing the doors and operating mechanism; Fig. 2, a reverse side elevation of part of the operating mechanism; Fig. 3, a detached perspective View of the swinging shaft; Fig. 4:, a detached plan view of part of the operating-bar; Fig. 5, a sectional view of the lower hinge-bearing of the door, and Fig. 6 a side elevation of an alternate form of the bearing.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The mobile partition is preferably composed of the two doors 1, hung on the upper hingebrackets 2 and 3, attached, respectively, to the lintel 4 of the frame 5 and to the faces of the doors near the upper edges, and on the lower hinge-brackets 6 and 7, attached, respectively, to the under side of the rails 8 and to the faces of the doors, near the lower edges thereof. The pivots 9 and 10 of the hingebrackets are preferably located opposite the median line of the doors, and the outer lower parts 11 of the doors are preferably extended downward as far as the lower sides of the ties 12, the inner edges 13 of which lower extensions being cut to fit the outer sides 14 of the rails.

These objects are attained The bearing-faces15 and15 of the heads 16 of the lower door-brackets and theheads 17 of the rail-brackets are inclined, so that when the doors are swung open toward the position shown for the farther door by broken lines in Fig. 1 the doors will at the same time be slightly raised, and to accommodate this ele-.

vation the heads 18 and 19 of the upper door and the lintel-brackets are normally located slightly apart, and the slight interval 20 is provided between the upper edges of the doors and the lintel. To close this interval when the doors are shut, the depending strips 21 of canvas or other flexible material are attachedto the lintel so as to hang down over the inner parts of the upper edges of the doors, and the similar strips 22 are attached to the outer parts of the upper edges of the door so as to lap over the lintel. It will be understood that the doors move laterally back of the depending strips, while the other strips close against the lintel as the doors are shut. The inclined bearing-faces for the hingebrackets may be made either in an inclined plane, with intervening balls 23, as shown in Fig. 5, or on a spiral, as shown in Fig. 6, and it is evident that when the doors are swung from their normal closed positions, and thereby elevated by the inclined bearings, they will naturally swing shut by their more weight when permitted to do so.

The operating-bars 24 are preferably arranged to move laterally over one rail, and

the ends are laterally curved or inclined, as

at 25, so that the approaching wheel 26 of a mine-car will move the bar sidcwise. The operating-bars are pivoted to the inner arms 27 of the cranks 28, which arms are bent or curved downward and longitudinally, so as to pass under the rail, where the cranks are mounted on vertical pivots, preferably by the brackets 28, attached to the rail, and the outer arms 29 of the cranks extend to a convenient point at the side of the track, where they are pivoted to the connecting-rods 30 and 30, the former of which is pivoted to the short lower arm 31 of the operating-lever 32 and the latter to the long upright arm 33 thereof.

The operating-levers 32 and 32 are mounted on the ends of the swinging shaft 3 L at opposite sides of the track, and the shaft is in turn suspended on the pendulous arms 35, which arms are transverselypivoted, preferably in the brackets 36, on the under sides of the rails. The swinging shaft normally hangs or is suspended on one side of the vertical plane passing through the pivots of its pendulous arms, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the parts are so arranged that when the mechanism is operated to open the doors the shaft is swung upward and farther away from such a plane, as shown in broken lines in Fig. 2, so that the mere weight of the shaft and its appended parts always tends to swing it downward t its normal position.

The connecting-bars 37 are joined at one end to the outer or near edges of the doors by the universal joints 38 and at the other end to the free ends of the upright arms of the operating-levers by the pivots 39. The portion of the bars engaging these pivots are preferably provided with the elongated slots 40, in the outer ends of which the pivots are normally located, so that the doors can be opened to the extent of the length of the slots without any movement of the operating mechanism. This slotted pivotal joinder of the connectingbars with the operating-levers is not essential to the other features of the invention, and when it is not employed the inclined bearings of the door-hinges and the suspended swinging shaft will join in the action of returning the doors and the mechanism to their normal positions, and it is evident that under such circumstances either one or the other of these means can be employed for such purpose independently of the other.

The vertically-pivoted crank-arms adapted to rotate over the rail and the operating-bar pivoted thereon having laterally-inclined ends and being normally located in the path of the wheel of a car, which are illustrated and described but not claimed herein, are included in the subject-matter of another application for Letters Patent, filed April 29, 1904:, Serial No. 205,488, and the manner of hinging the doors on bearings parallel with and at a point opposite a line intermediate the side edges of the doors (illustrated and described, but not claimed herein) is included in the subject-matter of another application for Letters Patent, filed November 14, 1904, Serial No. 232,619.

\Vhat we claim herein as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. -In combination, a mine-door having a hinge with a bearing inclined to elevate the door as it is opened, an adjacent operating mechanism including a shaft suspended on pendulous arms and havinga lever mounted thereon, and a bar joined to the near edge of the door by a universal joint and to the lever by a slotted pivotal connection.

2. In combination, a mine-door having a hinge with a bearing inclined to elevate the door as it is opened, an adjacent operating mechanism including a shaft suspended on pendulous arms and having a lever mounted thereon, and a connection between the near edge of the door and the lever.

3. In combination, a mobile mine-partition. an adjacent operating mechanism including a shaft suspended on pendulous arms and having a lever mounted thereon, and a connection between the partition and the lever.

4. In combination, a mobile mine-partition,

an adjacent operating mechanism, and a bar joined to the one by a universal pivot and to the other by a slotted pivotal connection.

5. In combination, a mobile mine-partition with means for automatically closing the same, an adjacent operating-lever, and a connection between the lever and the partition.

6. In a mobile minepartition operating mechanism, a shaft suspended on pendulous arms and having an operating-lever mounted thereon.

7. A mine-partition comprising a frame. a door hinged on pivots located'adjacent to its median line, a strip on the frame arranged to lap over part of the adjacent edge of the door and a similar strip on the other part of said adjacent edge arranged to lap over the lintel when the door is closed.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT J. GOOD. GEORGE E. HALL. itnessesz MINNIE F. ANTHONY, HARRY FREASE. 

